Pulling starts off – right at the very beginning of episode one, series one – with a hand job. And it ends up with genital warts. That's the kind of filth we're dealing with here. Your nan may not approve. It's not even a very good hand job: Donna (played by Sharon Horgan, who also co-wrote, making her an all-round comedy genius) keeps tugging away after Karl's done his business. Then, after she's left the room, he uses a leaf from her rubber plant to clean himself up. Eurgh. As for the genital warts, they were meant to be a baby. Karen (God, I love Karen) thought she was pregnant but she had messed up the test. All the doctor could find were warts.

There are only 12 episodes in all, because your nan is in charge of commissioning comedy at the BBC (the crime of pulling Pulling is even more heinous given that series two is much better than series one – it was on the up). But then there were only 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers: maybe its brevity will ensure its longevity. While the box set may not keep you going through a dose of full-blown swine flu, it will certainly cheer you up. If you're really bad, you probably shouldn't get involved. It might finish you off.

It's about three young women, their catastrophic lives, and a string of men who are hopeless, pathetic, sordid, or just plain wrong. And it's about how men and women both rely on and don't get each other. Yes, it's rude – in a peculiarly British way – but it's also beautifully observed, warm and human. They speak like real people, they care about each other, so we care about them. And it's also about people you and I know – we've all got a Donna, a Louise or a Karen in our lives. Maybe not a whole one, but a bit of one. You know who you are.

Oh, and it's hilarious: no bad thing in a comedy. You'll wet you pants, especially at Karen's drunkenness. But just tear a leaf from Karl's book, and another from a rubber plant, clean yourself up and move on to the next episode.